This invention relates to systems for managing and analyzing the operation of a dental laboratory engaged in the fabrication of dental appliances, e.g., dentures, partial dentures, implants, crowns, bridges, and mouthguards at the prescription of a dentist to increase efficiency and maximize profitability.
Typically, a dental laboratory constructs any one of a variety of artificial dental structures or appliances, i.e., dentures, partial dentures, crowns and bridges, which serve to replace a patient's lost dentition in an aesthetically pleasing manner. These structures are commonly referred to as "cases" during their fabrication in a dental laboratory and are fabricated in accordance with a prescription provided by the dentist.
There are several systems presently available in the marketplace that automate certain aspects of the operation of a dental laboratory in the fabrication of the dental appliances or cases. However, these prior art systems leave much to be desired. Most importantly, these systems are concerned primarily with the record keeping functions of the dental laboratory and often do little more than automate the generation of invoices sent to the dentists prescribing the appliances. Because these presently available systems are geared toward the limited functions of record keeping, they are arranged to gather only the information relating to a case that is necessary for generating bills.
These presently available systems do not provide a means for tracking cases from pickup at the prescribing dentist's office through laboratory production steps to delivery and invoicing. These systems do not provide a means for keeping track of important historical information about cases for the purpose of increasing efficiency in a dental laboratory. By historical information it is meant all information relating to the processing of a case from the time the case is originated in the dental laboratory to the time of completion of the dental appliance. Typically, under systems presently available, information relating to the processing of a case is overwritten each time the case is returned to the dental laboratory for further processing and therefore no historical record is created. Additionally, these systems deal primarily with record keeping functions and do not provide analytical tools that increase efficiency and productivity and streamline the process flows of the dental laboratory. Also, present systems deal primarily with single location dental laboratories, and do not possess the ability to handle dental laboratory enterprises comprising more than one main division and/or a plurality of auxiliary divisions.
The system of the present invention is geared to the process or manufacturing aspect of the dental laboratory business as well as record keeping. Therefore, it is capable of providing a significant amount of detailed and useful information regarding the process side of the dental laboratory business that is unavailable on presently existing systems. Because the system of the present invention considers so much detailed information relating to the processing of cases in a dental laboratory, it provides an analytic capability previously unavailable on other systems.
Specifically, the system of the present invention gathers and archives pertinent information regarding processing of cases in a dental laboratory including driver routing information necessary for case pickup, information relating to the laboratory, division and department where the work will be performed on that case, the process steps to be performed on that case, the workstations at which work will be performed, the identity of the technicians performing those steps, the elapsed time to perform process steps, number of iterations for each case, and doctor's preferences, the status of a case and other useful information. Additionally, the dental laboratory can advise doctors who have work pending in the dental laboratory when they can expect their cases back.
Because the system of the present invention is geared to the processing and data storage aspect, it provides a means for tracking cases from pickup through laboratory processing steps to delivery and invoicing. The system of the present invention also serves as an analytical tool that may be utilized by management to analyze collected data for the purpose of improving productivity and efficiency and containing costs through scientific management techniques. For example, using the information gathered by the system of the present invention, dental laboratory management can determine which doctor's cases are being worked on longest by laboratory technicians and which laboratory technicians consume the most time to finish work.